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It seems that most Americans and much of the media believe that the shutdown is the result of a failed negotiation between Trump and Congressional Democrats. But, in reality, the great dealmaker has not been negotiating in good faith all along. Indeed, his latest “proposal” was to offer Democrats things that he has previously taken away – DACA protections, immigration judges, etc.

Prior to this January, if Trump wanted $5.7 billion to fund his wall, all he had to do was ask. The Trump sycophants in the Republican-controlled House and Senate have given him everything he wanted. As evidenced by the Trump tax cuts, which have resulted in nearly $2 trillion in additional debt, they certainly weren’t worried about fiscal constraint. And, if Trump and the GOP really wanted to end the shutdown, they could do it today by voting on the budget bill that has already been passed by the House and was previously passed in the Senate by a unanimous voice vote. Or they could accede to the Democrats’ wishes and negotiate funding for increased border security where it would do the most good – at legal ports of entry. That, after all, is where the majority of illicit drugs enter our country in trucks, shipping crates and private vehicles. And they could use the funds to step up the monitoring of the people who enter our country legally and simply overstay their visas. Those people represent approximately half of undocumented immigrants. The Republicans’ failure to do so shows that the shutdown isn’t really interested in border security.

I believe the government shutdown is what Trump and his minions wanted all along.

For Republicans and this outlaw administration, the shutdown serves a variety of purposes. First, it is a distraction from the Russia investigation that is nearing completion. Second, it deprives the incoming Democratic House members the necessary funds to staff their offices, thus potentially impeding their investigations into Trump world. Third, it offers the bully in the White House an opportunity to frustrate and blame Speaker Pelosi. Fourth, in the twisted mind of Trump, the majority of government workers are Democrats, so it’s mostly Democrats who are suffering the consequences. Fifth, if as I believe, Trump really is beholden to Putin, a shutdown throws Russia’s greatest adversary into chaos.

Finally, and most important, Republicans despise government. So the shutdown allows them to call back only those workers that are necessary to their cause. For example, while many in the EPA and Interior are furloughed, Republicans have called back only those Interior employees who are responsible for issuing drilling and mining permits for public lands.

We must all face the reality that the shutdown is a right-winger’s wet dream. The most extreme among them believe the federal government should only be responsible for law and order, the protection of private property and national defense. Anything else – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, HUD, the EPA, public education – is, in their minds, a waste of money and an unwelcome intrusion into their ability to plunder the national resources and squeeze money out of the populace.

The media have shown Trump saluting a North Korean military officer and, once again, liberals have taken the clickbait. They are outraged – sharing the video and photographs across social media. But, of all the things Trump has done, that gesture was, by itself, relatively meaningless. It was, perhaps, nothing more than a reflexive reaction to the officer’s salute.

What really matters is the context surrounding that gesture, when you contrast it with a photo of a petulant Trump at the G7 meeting.

Remember that Trump arrived at the G7 meeting late after stating that Putin should be invited to the meeting. He then threatened our staunchest allies with a trade war and questioned the need for NATO. Then, leaving the meeting in a shambles, he tweeted verbal attacks directed at the leader of our closest ally on his way to his meeting with Kim Jong-un.

By contrast, at his meeting with Kim, Trump was effusive in his praise of the world’s worst dictator. And despite North Korea’s history of human rights abuses and failure to follow through on its promises, Trump agreed to suspend our war “games” with South Korea having received no concrete concessions in return. All he got was another vague promise and evidence that North Korea had dismantled its nuclear test site – a site that was already no longer usable according to China’s intelligence agencies.

Trump’s treatment of North Korea also stands in stark contrast with his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran. While North Korea already has nuclear weapons and ICBM missiles with which to deliver them, Iran has not yet developed nuclear weapons. While North Korea has not yet agreed to a regimen of strict inspections to verify its commitment to dismantling its nuclear program, Iran has. And while the agreement with North Korea is based on a handshake and worthless piece of paper, Iran’s agreement was painstakingly negotiated over a period of years with an international team of government officials and nuclear experts.

Nevertheless, Trump has pronounced the Iran agreement a failure and his 45-minute drive-by with Kim a yu-u-u-ge success…Nobel worthy.

It’s a pattern we’ve seen before from der Gropenfuhrer – the embrace of strongmen, despots and dictators while turning a cold shoulder to the leaders of democracies, disregarding moral and ethical norms, and undermining democratic institutions here at home.

Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan bill calling for stricter sanctions against Russia in response to its meddling with our 2016 election. But, with no explanation given, the Trump administration failed to implement any further sanctions until after the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in England. Even then, it appeared that the administration was reluctantly responding in support of our closest ally.

Now, months after congressional action, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions designed to harm Russian oligarchs close to Putin. Among others, the oligarchs named include Oleg Deripaska, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s long-time benefactor, and Alexander Torshin, the Russian who gave millions to the NRA to be used to aid GOP candidates during the 2016 campaign. One has to ask why those guys? Why now?

After all, these men would seem to be allies of Trump, the GOP and the NRA. And we know that Trump has never uttered a harsh word about Russia or Putin – quite the opposite. He has repeatedly gone out of his way to praise Putin despite the investigations by Congress and the special prosecutor.

I believe a recent post from a Facebook friend, who is obviously wiser and perhaps even more cynical than I am, offers a possible answer. Could it be that the long delay between the congressional sanctions and the implementation by the Trump administration was designed to allow Putin and his pals to minimize the consequences? Did the delay allow them to transfer their billions out of accounts in the US and other western nations? Did the delay allow Trump to pretend to be tough on Russia, as he now claims, and demonstrate to GOP members of Congress and his right-wing base that he did not conspire with Russia to help his campaign?

More to the point, will the delayed sanctions convince GOP members of Congress to ignore the coming reports from Robert Muller and refuse to impeach Trump? Will they further free Fox News, right-wing radio hosts, and Sinclair Broadcast Group to launch a propaganda campaign to support Trump and portray the Russian investigations as a hoax?

Based on what we’ve seen in the past year and a half, I think the answer to all of those questions is a resounding “yes.”

As more connections between Russia and the Trump camp are exposed, Republicans would have you believe that they are mere coincidence, the product of successful people who operate multinational businesses. That’s an explanation only the chronically naive and the willfully ignorant could accept.

Following is a list of just those connections that have been identified. Even if no further relationships are uncovered, you have to be extraordinarily suspicious of this administration.

For example, President Trump met with Russia’s UN ambassador in 1986 and began pursuing business deals in Russia shortly afterward. The head of Russian-American Chamber of Commerce is a Trump associate. Trump has numerous connections with Russian oligarchs who have rented office space at the Trump Tower and purchased a Florida estate from Trump at nearly three times its value. Trump’s business was rescued during the Great Recession as the result of huge loans from Deutsche Bank after every US bank and other European banks refused to loan him money. (Deutsche Bank was under investigation for allegedly participating in a Russian money-laundering scheme until the Department of Justice suddenly ended the investigation after Jeff Sessions became the Attorney General.)

One of Trump’s former business partners is a Russian Mixed Martial Arts fighter who is also a friend of Putin’s. Trump held the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow hosted by a Russian oligarch who is friends with Vladimir Putin. At that time, it was reported that he met with Putin.

During the campaign, US intelligence agencies were alerted to the existence of a Russian dossier on Trump by British agent who feared it would allow the Russians to compromise the candidate. Trump’s campaign financier, Robert Mercer, has reported business ties to a Russian oligarch. (It must be noted that virtually all Russian oligarchs are friends with Putin.) Also, during the campaign, it was discovered that there was a mysterious Internet connection between members of the Trump campaign and Alfa Bank, the largest private commercial bank in Russia.

Following his inauguration, it was reported that Trump tried to lift the sanctions on Russia. He also called the Preet Bharara, the US attorney who was in the midst of prosecuting a case involving money-laundering. When Bharara refused Trump’s phone call, he was fired by Trump and, following his firing, the case was settled out of court.

President Trump took the extraordinary step to meet with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador in the Oval Office. During that meeting, he leaked classified information about Israeli surveillance of ISIS and told Russians that, having fired that “nutjob” Comey, he was under less pressure.

Further, Trump’s name appeared in the Panama Papers more than 3,500 times. These papers were the result of a long-time investigation into tax evasion through offshore shell corporations, many of them involving Russian oligarchs.

And those are just Trump’s connections to Russia. There are many more involving his cabinet and political associates.

We all know about the investigations into Trump’s former National Security Adviser, General Michael Flynn. He had numerous meetings with the Russian ambassador before and after the election. He was paid to appear on Russian TV and for several speaking engagements in Russia.

Vice-president Pence, who led the Trump transition team following the election, recommended Flynn as the National Security Adviser despite being alerted by the Justice Department that Flynn may have been compromised.

Attorney General Jeff Session failed to disclose multiple meetings with the Russian ambassador during his confirmation hearing, which resulted in him recusing himself from the Flynn-Russian investigation. Nevertheless, Sessions advised Trump to fire FBI Director James Comey.

As a CEO, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson negotiated a deal between Gazprom, the Russian government-owned gas company, and ExxonMobil which would go into effect if sanctions were lifted. In recognition of his efforts, Tillerson received the Order of Friendship Award from Putin. Tillerson also has a personal relationship with the president of Rosneft, the government-controlled oil company.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is a one-third owner of a Cypress bank known to hide money for Russian oligarchs. The other two bank owners are known allies of Putin’s.

The brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a friend and confidant of Putin’s. And it was her husband’s company (Spectrum Health) that was linked to the mysterious Internet connection between the Trump campaign and Alfa Bank.

It was recently revealed that Trump son-in-law and very special White House adviser, Jared Kushner is a “person of interest” in the Trump-Russian investigation for having numerous undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador before and after the inauguration. Purportedly one of those meetings involved an attempt to set up back-channel communications with the Russian government.

Former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is a former business partner with Ukrainian oligarchs who received sweetheart deals from Putin. He is also a former business associate with a former Russian intelligence agent who is a friend of Putin’s. Manafort was a campaign adviser to a Ukrainian presidential candidate with ties to Putin. And he was a paid lobbyist for Turkey, which is run by a dictator tied to Putin.

Carter Page, who served as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, met with the Russian ambassador in 2016. He has had multiple contacts with a Russian spy. His business partner is a Russian oligarch. He also owns shares in Gazprom and has met with leaders of Rosneft.

It has been reported that J.D. Gordon, who served as a national security adviser to the Trump campaign, also met with Russian ambassador and then-Senator Jeff Sessions at the Mayflower Hotel during the Republican national convention.

Longtime Trump associate and former campaign adviser, Roger Stone, has received money for numerous appearances on Russian television. More disturbing is the fact that Stone admitted to meeting with Wikileaks and the Russian hackers known as Gucifer over the release of emails from the Clinton campaign and Democratic organizations.

Felix Sater, a Trump business associate pleaded guilty in a stock fraud scheme with ties to the Russian mafia. He was also indicted in a stock fraud scheme with a convicted felon who brokered a $150 million deal with a hedge fund tied to Putin. That same hedge fund invested in the Trump Soho hotel.

Michael Cohen, the longtime lawyer for Trump’s businesses and Trump’s personal attorney, is associated with two Russian-leaning Ukrainians who are now under investigation by the Ukraine for treason.

Last, but not least, Donald Trump, Jr. has business ties to numerous people with Russian connections.

As I wrote at the beginning of this article, you might dismiss one or even a dozen such connections between Trump and Russia as coincidence; the result of operating a multinational company. But I now count more than 50. To dismiss that many as mere coincidence defies logic.

1. He spent years undermining a sitting president by claiming that the president was not a citizen of the United States.
2. He broke a 40-year tradition of presidential candidates releasing tax returns. What is he hiding?
3. He has a long record of refusing to pay small businesses for work on his properties.
4. He has long bullied his critics by initiating frivolous lawsuits.
5. He has reputed ties to the mob.
6. He has licensed his name to foreign governments that use slave labor to build resorts.
7. He hired a campaign manager with ties to foreign governments that oppose democracy.
8. He openly praised the dictator of our nation’s chief rival.
9. He mocked a reporter with a physical disability.
10. He was recorded bragging about his sexual assaults of women earning him the title, Das Gropenfuhrer.
11. He has been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.
12. He has been accused of being a serial sexual assailant.
13. He offered few policies to “make America great again.”
14. The policies he did offer were racist and unconstitutional.
15. He encouraged violence and racism at his rallies.
16. He refused to disavow the support of the KKK and other racist organizations.
17. He encouraged a foreign government to meddle in our presidential election by stealing confidential information from his opponent.
18. He refuses to disentangle himself from his business interests, creating conflicts of interest worldwide.
19. He refuses to hold press conferences to answer the questions of journalists preferring, instead, to communicate by Tweets.
20. He lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and won the electoral vote by carrying 3 states by a total margin of fewer than a 78,000 votes. Yet he claims to have won by a “landslide.”
21. He has undermined the current president by interfering in foreign policy before his inauguration.
22. He has threatened other governments by tweet.
23. He used his status as president-elect to broker deals to benefit his family businesses.
24. He was elected as a direct result of the meddling by a foreign dictator, according to all of our intelligence agencies.
25. He not only refused to accept the findings of our intelligence agencies. He demeaned them.
26. He was elected as a direct result of voter suppression of minorities.
27. He has appointed a racist and originator of fake news as a senior adviser to the White House.
28. He has selected cabinet appointees who, instead of being reformers, are openly antagonistic of the departments they have been chosen to lead.
29. He nominated a racist to become Attorney General.
30. He nominated a close friend of Vladimir Putin to be Secretary of State – a oil executive whose company has a $500 billion deal at stake with Putin’s state-owned oil company.
31. Before inauguration, he recalled all US ambassadors.
32. He requested names of individuals within NASA who have been assigned to the study of climate change indicating that they will be singled out for punishment.
33. He requested names of individuals within the Energy Department who have worked to combat climate change.
34. He has sought waivers from government nepotism laws in order that he may appoint family members to positions within his administration creating even more conflicts of interest.
35. He has clearly demonstrated a lack of understanding of the Constitution and the office he will hold.
36. He has a long history of vindictiveness and he will hold the codes for our nuclear weapons.
37. He is filling the White House with family members and business partners.
38. He insulted and demeaned a Gold Star family.
39. He is a serial liar.
40. He exhibits all of the characteristics of a narcissistic sociopath!